Just pulled another Loo's emergency pie from my old broiler drawer gas oven. This pizza has 50% Stella mozz and 50% local Asiago cheese on it...one of the more tastier pies I've recently experienced I do say chap....

I made my first Chicago Thin clones this past weekend. I was happy for my first attempts, but still have a long way to go. I am trying to work on Chicago thin and Deep Dish to satisfy my Chicago urge when it hits... Nashville is a Dead Zone for all things Chicago. I used Loo's crust recipe from http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6368.msg54574.html#msg54574. I did a same day pizza. I also put one dough in the fridge to try today or tomorrow. I though for a same day crust it was pretty decent, better than my Nick & Vito clone...which came out tougher. For a Sauce I did a variation of Garvey's sauce. I definitely prefer a paste based sauce for this type of thin pizza and his sauce is a winner (with a few tiny mods for personal tastes). I also have one more obstacle that keeps me from a perfect home pie at the moment and thats a Toaster Oven. My oven blew out years ago and I bought a Toaster Oven that keeps hanging for me. It seems to be great for Deep Dish, but hand tossed and thin seem to be more difficult for it.... but I do try. I use a Marble Pastry Board from Williams Sonoma, that works GREAT for these type of crusts... a much nicer surface than anything else I have used before.Here are a few pics of my endeavor.

Bob and Mr. Mo, thanks! I still have some work to go to get the flavor I am looking for, but the Marble slab and big ass rolling pin have definitely helped me get my crust thin, which is a problem I have had in the past. The Chicago thin is a tough one for me to duplicate right... the Deep Dish is much easier to pull off...smile....but alas, I will just have to keep trying...more pizza....more pizza.

As Bob said, never precooked. But here's something I like to do, and you might like it, too: put down a scant third of the cheese onto the sauced pizza, then add the chunks of raw sausage, and then put down the final two-thirds of the cheese. That way, the sausage will peek out a little. Makes an aesthetically pleasing pie and allows the exposed sausage to crisp up a little.

As Bob said, never precooked. But here's something I like to do, and you might like it, too: put down a scant third of the cheese onto the sauced pizza, then add the chunks of raw sausage, and then put down the final two-thirds of the cheese. That way, the sausage will peek out a little. Makes an aesthetically pleasing pie and allows the exposed sausage to crisp up a little.

Deb,Garvey's suggestion is great and to just give you a bit more background on this style......back in the 70's(and before)these pizza's were made with all toppings placed on top of the cheese. I believe that later on in the decade as places like PH started catching on,especially with their pan style pizza, mom an pop joints started to top the thins more and more with a 'lil bit more cheese on the tops until you have what is predominantly seen today.I loved the pizza's with all the cheese on first...but as you may have seen my resent posts complaining about today's cheese's....the pizza just doesn't turn out the same now a days so it takes some cheese on the top to give you the right sort of browning/small dark bits. If that makes any sense to you.

Deb,Garvey's suggestion is great and to just give you a bit more background on this style......back in the 70's(and before)these pizza's were made with all toppings placed on top of the cheese. I believe that later on in the decade as places like PH started catching on,especially with their pan style pizza, mom an pop joints started to top the thins more and more with a 'lil bit more cheese on the tops until you have what is predominantly seen today.I loved the pizza's with all the cheese on first...but as you may have seen my resent posts complaining about today's cheese's....the pizza just doesn't turn out the same now a days so it takes some cheese on the top to give you the right sort of browning/small dark bits. If that makes any sense to you.

Bob

thanks Bob! I'm craving some sausage and small dark bits so this will be cool.

Just fired off this 'lil gem using my newfound 50/50 Classico "crushed" and "extra heavy puree" sauce combo. The dough was a 24hr half milk and half Icehouse beer hydrated deal....man...Bob don't know if he can do any better than this one. Wish I could have everyone over for a pie or two....